SCR166

WHEREAS, according to the Department of Health in a May 23, 2007 article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin, statistics show that Hawaii has the second-highest resident drowning rate in the United States, and if drowning included visitors, Hawaii may lead the nation; and

WHEREAS, according to the Department of Health, in a June 18, 2006 article in The Honolulu Advertiser, seventy‑seven drownings occurred statewide in 2006, up from seventy-one in 2004, which previously was a fifteen-year high; the article quoted a Department of Health official as saying that the statistics definitely point to a lack of awareness, and most people would agree we need to do more education; and

WHEREAS, an August 26, 2006 article in The New York Times, stated that drowning claims far more lives in Hawaii than headline grabbing shark attacks, especially with Hawaii's coastlines of sand, coral reef, and lava rock creating shorebreaks and currents that cause many swimmers, even competent ones, to encounter entirely unexpected peril; and

WHEREAS, The Garden Island News in an article of January 1, 2008, reported that on August 5 and 6, 2007, there were a total of sixteen rescues in Kauai waters, ten visitors and six local people who were rescued from deadly rip currents during strong tradewind conditions; two Kapa‘a surfers had recently responded to someone on shore at Donkey Beach waiving frantically for help to rescue a Tennessee family of six all in severe distress in the water, with all six saved by the surfers but four landed up in the emergency room for aspirating seawater; the father stated that they had just arrived on Kauai to stay at a private residence and thus had no chance to be warned by hotel concierges or activities desk personnel; and

WHEREAS, it was further reported in The Honolulu Advertiser on January 30, 2007, that a key feature of a water safety warning program to protect visitors is information, and for years, lifeguards have been fighting a difficult battle to educate people about ocean hazards; many of them have launched their own individual efforts (often at their own expense) to warn visitors; and

WHEREAS, visitors to Hawaii often learn about an area from a guidebook; of particular concern to some is the issue of internet and travel guides that direct visitors, who are often inexperienced swimmers, to remote beaches, cliffs, and dive spots that may not have lifeguards; for example, on Oahu along the cliffs of Maunalua Bay in Hawaii Kai, drownings and rescues are a regular occurrence, despite warning signs, at two popular cliff-diving places, Spitting Caves and China Walls; and

WHEREAS, many interventions to prevent drowning have been undertaken to get information to visitors via airline water safety videos, hotel concierges, car rental companies, visitor information websites, and baggage claim videos; and

WHEREAS, two documents that are distributed onboard to every air traveler arriving to Hawaii are the Department of Agriculture Plant and Animal Declaration Form and the Visitor Survey Form; and

WHEREAS, a simple one-page handout could similarly be distributed onboard to airline passengers to provide water safety information to educate them on water recreational hazards, such as drownings; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Tourism Authority has the responsibility, among other things, under section 201B-3(a)(21), Hawaii Revised Statutes, to establish a public information and educational program to inform the public of tourism and tourism‑related problems, which by reasonable interpretation includes the prevention of drowning; and

WHEREAS, section 201B-3(c), Hawaii Revised Statutes, further provides that the Hawaii Tourism Authority shall do any and all things necessary to carry out its purposes and to exercise its powers and responsibilities under law; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Hawaii Tourism Authority is requested, in cooperation and conjunction with the Department of Health and appropriate water safety organizations, to furnish and distribute aboard to all incoming mainland and international flights a visitor water safety information multi‑lingual handout to provide education on water recreational hazards; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health is requested to cooperate with and assist the Hawaii Tourism Authority in producing a visitor water safety information multi‑lingual handout to provide education on water recreational hazards; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State Department of Transportation is requested to work with the airlines to ensure the distribution of the handout onboard to all incoming passengers on flights to Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health; Director of Transportation; Executive Director of the Hawaii Tourism Authority and each member of the Hawaii Tourism Authority; the Mayor and every councilmember of each county; and the manager of Hawaii operations for Aloha Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines, US Air, United Airlines, American Trans Air, Continental Micronesia, TWA, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, Japan Airlines, Jalways, All Nippon Airways, Air Japan, Jetstar, Korean Air, Philippines Airlines, Quantas Airways, WestJet, ATA, China Airlines, Omni Air International, US Airways, and America West.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Hawaii Tourism Authority; Visitor Drowning Handout

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	166
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII